Doris Ruth Boldt

Doris R. Boldt, age 80, of Marysville, went home to be with the Lord Saturday, February 17, 2007. She was born in Detroit, Michigan on New Years Eve 1926, the second daughter of Clara (Fenske) and A. Herbert Boldt. She was baptized at Iroquois Avenue-Christ Lutheran Church, Detroit, February 1927; Dorothy Niederhauser Gerds and Walter H. Schmidt, sponsors. She attended Gabriel Richard Elementary School and Edwin Denby High School in Detroit and spent two years at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. While working, she took classes in the evening at Wayne State University, Detroit. Following the death of her father in 1933, the family attended Mt. Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and she was confirmed there in 1940. She was active in the Luther League and taught Sunday School at Mt. Zion for 15 years. While away at school, she joined the Lutheran Student Association and served as an officer of the Ohio Valley Region. When the Lutheran World Federation Youth Assembly met in Hannover, Germany in 1952, she spent three months in Europe attending conferences and traveling. Two years later, she and her sister, Marie, with two friends, Eleanor MacDonald LaBounty and Lois Jean Ulrich, traveled to Europe and spent two months on the grand circuit. Doris was employed 16 years at Consolodation Coal Company, Detroit, and 25 years at Wayne State University, when she took an early retirement in 1988 to help care for her invalid mother. She and her sister, Marie, traveled extensively in the United States and Canada. She had many interests, including genealogy and, with Marie, spent long hours researching family connections back to 1534. She was a member of Detroit Institute of Arts Founders Society, a Friend of the Marysville Library, a Friend of the Marysville Historical Society, the Port Huron Museum, the Wayne State University Retirees Association and for over four years edited a column in the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research journal. She also did extensive work on the Strong genealogy and assembled three volumes of letters, dating from 1837 to 1926 and was working on a fourth volume to identify the letter-writers. While a young teenager, she rolled bandages after school at the Red Cross during World War II, took First Aid classes. She planned and led over a half dozen tours for the WSU Retirees Association, as well as a tour for the WSU Alumni Association. An inveterate letter writer, she corresponded with friends from college and Europe and the South Pacific, many for over 50 years. She valued her friendships and the Perles luncheon group, which met monthly over the last 20 years around the Detroit area and she still maintained contact with her high school TNT Club. She loved to learn. Doris was preceded in death by her sister, Marie Boldt in 2002. Memorials may be made to the Doris R. and Marie E. Boldt Endowed Scholarship Fund, Capital University, Columbus, OH 43209. A funeral service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, February 22, 2007 at White Chapel Cemetery, Troy. Arrangements by L.C. Friederichs & Son Funeral Home, St. Clair.

Doris Ruth Boldt

December 31, 1926 - February 17, 2007